The panel, which included doctors, nurses, insurers, religious leaders, lawyers and experts on aging, said Medicare and other insurers should create financial incentives for health care providers to have continuing conversations with patients on advance care planning, possibly starting as early as major teenage milestones like getting a driver\u2019s license or going to college.<\/p>\n
It called for a \u201cmajor reorientation and restructuring of Medicare, Medicaid and other health care delivery programs\u201d\u009d and the elimination of \u201cperverse financial incentives\u201d\u009d that encourage expensive hospital procedures when growing numbers of very sick and very old patients want low-tech services like home health care and pain management.<\/p>\n
And it said that medical schools and groups that accredit and regulate health providers should greatly increase training in palliative care and set standards so that more clinicians know how to compassionately and effectively treat patients who want to be made comfortable but avoid extensive medical procedures.<\/p>\n